Chapter 252

With Greed’s arrival, Ben got to work in earnest, having the crab show him how he performed while carefully examining his body. It was like he thought, he was sure he’d be able to do something for his voice easily enough, but it was the claws that would create some issues.It wasn’t just a matter of deciding how he would wear them, it was how they would be built at all. His first idea was to basically make him metal gloves, but that completely changed the sound Greed’s music took, giving it a metallic ring that wasn’t originally there.

“Let’s see, so if that won’t work, I could do what? I suppose I could make something like funnel-shaped bracelets to capture the sound and tie an air enchantment to amplify it, but then what if the claws affect it? Since they’d be in front of the sound some of it could reflect back and make a feedback loop, something nobody wants. So then how should I do this, unless…”

“You got something?” Greed asked him, filled with hope after watching Ben spin his wheels as he thought.

“Maybe, give me a minute.”

He had an idea, a simple one too. This whole time, he’d been thinking of creating an item for both claws, as well as a microphone of sorts for the crab to talk into, but then again, there was no reason he couldn’t make one thing to project each sound. The quality might be affected a bit, but he was sure he could work that out with just a little bit of tinkering with the enchantment. He’d learned a lot about using air magic for sound spells since his music box after all, it would be good to put it into practice.

Taking all of that into consideration he began making it, putting better materials into his forge than he’d initially planned, solely due to how little he was going to be using. He was making it for a crab after all, it had to be at a size that Greed would be able to carry and move around himself without too much difficulty.

Once the metal was headed through he took out one of the many bone powders he’d pack to use in the competition, having not known what he’d be making at the time but seeing he wouldn’t be needing it now. It was one specifically meant to increase an item's ability to hold air enchantments, and considering that he would be trying to put the most powerful one he could on something so small, it was an absolute necessity.

Once the material was ready, it came down to flattening it into a plate before cutting and shaping it. The design he had in mind was simple enough. He was folding it into a small square cone, something that Greed should have been able to move around without trouble, and on the end of each he added a hinge that he attached more plates to. The point was to set it up in such a way that it could double in length after being properly set, while not taking up too much space beforehand. This would let him make better enchantments for it, and with that done he got started.

Even with everything he did to manage the space, the enchantment had to be on the smaller, more delicate side compared to what he would normally do. There simply hadn’t been enough material to do anything too crazy with it, but with a bit of care he completed it, letting the crab test it out.

Standing in front of it after the setup was complete, Greed walked before it, hesitantly clicking a claw and hearing the sound amplify before doing it again with his other one, making a different tone and seeming satisfied as he kept going, turning the test into a performance as he began to sing, not using words, but making sounds that would weave seamlessly into each snap he made. Ben couldn’t help but find himself enjoying it, even if he noticed a flaw in his enchantment as he did.

“This is great legs, you really know your stuff,” Greed told him happily, more than pleased with how it turned out. He had used a few amplifiers in the past when a venue had them and even if it wasn’t quite as loud, that was more than excusable considering how small it was compared to the ones he’d used for the larger races.

“Well hold on a minute there, something didn’t sound quite right to me some I’m going to do a quick modification,” Ben said as he took it in his hand to alter it. It had sounded fine, but it was definitely getting a slight distortion from the amplified sound bouncing off the metal. An easy enough fix after blending in an earth enchantment, and after putting it down he had the crab try again

This time it truly was perfect. There was no flaw in the noise as Ben let himself enjoy it and the few competitors who hadn’t finished packing up for the day stopped to listen. It wasn’t often that he got to hear the different musical options that filled the world, and he couldn’t help but think that as far as payment went, it really wasn’t too bad, even if he still fully intended to get copies of his skills in the future if he could.

With his customer more than thrilled, it seemed like that would be the end of things for the day, with enough hours left that he could still meet Will and Jake, but the crab had one more request for him.

“Alright, so I know this might be a bit much after you went to the trouble of making this, but you think I could ask a favour?”

“Well, you can at least ask.”

“Think I could get a lift back to my inn?” He asked sheepishly. “It would take me ages, but you could manage it in what, fifteen minutes? This city wasn’t exactly built for someone my size, and I’d rather not get stepped on when things start getting dark out.”

“Oh yeah, if that’s all then sure, it’s no problem,”

Ben was finding himself liking the guy well enough, even if his reputation may not have been the greatest, and he wasn’t wrong. It was too easy for such a small creature to accidentally be trampled underfoot. Even with his strong shell, he could still be injured and spending the thirty minutes there and back wouldn’t be putting him out of his way.

With that decided, Ben carefully scooped him up, following his directions to take him back where he was staying, chatting on the way. It was fun listening to the crab's stories, what it was like going across the world to perform, as well as his warnings over women.

“Listen legs, gonna give you a bit of wisdom on the house, as a little thanks for the walk,” He said as they were nearing their destination. “If a girl’s ever interested, do your due diligence first. Getting in trouble with a married woman is all sorts of headache, and almost dying for some youthful indiscretions when a jealous man comes along with a hammer is only a funny story if it happens once.”

“Ha, I’ll keep that in mind,” He said with a shake of his head, feeling happy that no matter how hectic his life felt, he wasn’t dealing with things like that. “Anyway, where next?”

“The following right and we’re basically there,” Greed told him. It was almost time to part ways, and Ben couldn’t help but think that the crab made some entertaining company as he passed a side alleyway, feeling something grab and pull him as a bag was shoved over his head.

Their mouths had been covered as they were dragged off, but upon reaching their location and being dumped on the floor they were free to swear up a storm, at least that was what Greed had been doing as Ben focused on his prayers, doing it with all ten minds at once to try and get his god's attention.

His head was still bagged and his hands were tied, but eventually he stopped trying to rely on his god for help and instead thought things through. There were three options that could have led to this. It could have been a random attack, it could have been someone looking for him, or it could have been someone after Greed.

As poor as his luck was, he couldn’t help but think that he was probably an uninvolved party in this. It felt like the only group that might actually hate him enough to kidnap him was the church of Eneth, but they would know better than to do something like this against the apostle of a god, meaning the options likely came down to the other two.

Assuming it was a random attack he was just unlucky enough to go through wouldn’t help anything either. Even if it was true, all he could do was reveal himself as an apostle and hope it would scare them out of doing anything rash. That just left the final option.

“Hey Greed, don’t suppose you have any idea what’s going on?” He asked calmly despite the situation, doing his best to use his other minds to keep track of the surroundings despite his eyes being covered. With the noises of movements and steps around them, it was certain he wasn’t alone and as he focused he was pretty sure he counted five other people around, or maybe five small groups of people. It was hard to be sure, but it was better than nothing.

“Ah, well you know how it is,” The crab said. “What sort of musician doesn’t have enemies?”

“Most of them I’d think. Is this the whole jealous husband thing you were just telling me about? Man, if we survive you’ve really got to stop doing that crap.”

“I’ve told you I haven’t touched a woman in years!” He yelled in his defense. “It can cause all sorts of trouble beyond just an angry partner! Hell, the worst of it all has got to be the-”

He was cut off as the sound of movement came from behind them and the bags over their heads were ripped off, revealing the dark room they were placed in, as well as just who had them.

Standing around were five crabs, four of them having hard blue shells that let off a bit of light, but that was hardly their most noticeable characteristic. No, what stood out was their sheer size. Each of them had to be a meter across, with powerful claws he didn’t want to be on the wrong end of, and all of them switched their gazes between their two prisoners and the fifth person in the room.

He was another crab species, or at least Ben thought he was, but he seemed to lack a shell, instead having a softer-looking flesh to him while being half the size of the others. He would still tower over Greed, and given how the others were reacting looked like the one in charge.

“An angry husband?” Ben quietly asked.

“Fuck I wish, then I’d only have to worry about being beaten to death,” He muttered back as the fleshy crab spoke to one of his men.

“Who’s that with him?” He asked, pointing to Ben. “Another fucking lover?”

“We can only assume so sir,” one of the blue crabs confirmed. “They were carrying him back to his room when we took them, what else could they be?”

“Woah woah woah, hold on a minute!” Ben yelled in his defense. “I was just commissioned to make him something and was giving him a lift back, that’s all!”

The flesh crab looked to the others, giving a disappointed shake of his head. “Idiots, of course you all had to go and make things more complicated. We’ll figure out what to do with him after, for now let’s get to it. After all, I’ve been hungry for this for decades.”

“Hold on you bastard! You’re out of your mind if you think I’m just going to let you fucking eat me!” Greed yelled out, struggling to escape as the other crab walked closer.

“You’re body is my birthright father! I’m simply making you finally fulfill the obligation you should have upon my birth!”

This was getting too complicated. He hadn’t planned on being a witness to both some patricide and cannibalism when he’d agreed to make a simple amplifier. “What the hell did you get me caught up in?”

“Ha, let’s just let this be my final piece of advice to you,” The smaller crab said. “Careful when you have some fun outside of your race. You never know when you’ll accidentally mess around with someone whose kind needs their young to eat part of their father to absorb their shell and grow their own. Even worse when you learn the woman’s a crime lord.”

He could see the fear in the other man's eyes as he failed to break free of his bindings. A small part of Ben couldn’t help but be amazed at meeting someone who seemed like they actually had worse luck than him, but he put the thought to the side and forced his minds into overdrive as he tried to come up with something, anything that would get them free and keep him from being murdered after this and Greed from being eaten.

As his mind was in a flurry of activity, Greed’s son reached them, taking hold of his father and looking him in the eye as Greed continued to scream.

“Eating me will never give you enough to form a proper shell! Look at you! Look at our size difference, I couldn’t have done it when you were born, let alone now!”

“And yet it will be something!” The other crab responded as he held him up above his mouth. “I’ll take any patches over what I have now!”

“Wait, let me help you!” Ben yelled before any attempts at eating happened. He had an idea, but it would mostly rely on the mages in his life to fulfill, he just had to get to that point.

Greed though misunderstood things. “You’re going to help him eat me you fuck? Come on, just try getting a bite! It’s going to hurt going all the way down though!”

“I think I can help you get a proper shell,” Ben yelled while he had the fleshy crab's attention, getting Greed to calm down in the process. “Something that would be able to cover you! If I’m hearing right, you can only use what he has, right? Wouldn’t you like something better? I’ll do it if you don’t eat him!”

For a second, it seemed to have the desired effect. He put down Greed and turned to him, with things only seeming to fall through as he moved to get his thick claw around Ben’s neck.

“That’s a pretty promise boy, but one you should be cautious of making,” He warned. “Now, I don’t have any problem with you. After dealing with my father I was just going to toss you on the streets and we’d leave town, so do you really want to be responsible for getting my hopes up?”

“I can’t guarantee I can help, but as the apostle of Myriad I promise I’ll do my best,” He told them confidently, seeing what he thought were surprised faces around him as he felt the claw slip from his neck.

“Did you idiots really kidnap a goddamn apostle?”

“He could be lying,” One of the other crabs said meekly. “Just trying to get out of things.”

“Let me show you my card and I’ll prove it. Then we can move on to discussing just how I might be able to help.”

Greed's son waved one of his men over, and with a quick snip of his claws Ben was free, letting him prove his identity.

“Alright apostle boy, how exactly are you planning on helping me?”